That's the sound of the men workin' on the chain... mail...
Sorry again for being under the radar. A bunch of deadlines blindsided me, so I'm burning the midnight oil again trying to make sure everything gets taken care of. :) In the meantime, I've been alerted to lots of info on TV and movies to complain about!
It's almost time for "Torchwood" to start up again, and for an analysis of the next season's trailer as well as a backhandedly positive review of the show in general, read on. I have to agree that it's one of the worst good shows I watch. I mean, the characters act bonkers every other episode, some of the monsters are laughable, and Torchwood itself has got to have some kind of qualification exam where they make sure your libido is hyperactive and that you suffer from at least one bout of poor judgment per alien/temporal menace... but I can't stop watching! It's almost like the 80's movie "Flash Gordon." Everything I know about sci-fi and movies tells me I'm probably causing myself loads of dain bramage, but I just can't help liking it.
Which brings me to "Heroes." If you saw the last episode, I have to wonder if they swapped out their usual directors and writers for ones who last worked on "The A-Team." There's a scene where Peter gives what's supposed to be an "inspirational speech(tm)," but the rising electric guitar and cheesy delivery didn't sell it. It came off about as believable as having Patton Oswalt read the opening speech from Highlander instead of Sean Connery. My only hope is that the series vastly improves after Bryan Fuller's help gets into the pipeline. Oh, and the semi-official name for the latest kid to have powers is "Sylad." The familial connections in this show are starting to make me think Charles Dickens is helping with rewrites.
But if "Heroes" doesn't improve and you can't live without "real" superheroes, FX is developing a show based on "Powers". I love the concept of "Powers," but I hope the writers do a better job of wrapping up loose ends than Bendis often did. Don't get me wrong, I still like the series (though the infamous "super-monkey" issue will be interesting if they film it) and want to see what they can do with it.
Lastly, in other superhero-media, it looks like Brett Ratner will be giving us move based on Rob Liefeld's Youngblood comic books. I can say I wasn't a huge reader of the book, but when I mentioned it to some friends of mine, they pointed out two other Liefeld points of interest. One is his (language warning) worst artistic offenses, and the other is his new project, Armageddon Now. The latter appears to be a "Left Behind" style thing, with a religious angle to the tale. I somehow fear that if Jesus makes an appearance, he'll have ankles like toothpicks and many belts with lots of military-style pouches on that he never actually uses. :)
Next up: Transformers, housing, martial arts, and games:
- For those who can't wait to see him, ToplessRobot.com has posted an image of the movie version of "Devastator" along with a pretty spiffy CGI version of the original.
- If the current mortgage and credit crunch sound familiar, this ditty from the 80's as performed by "Spitting Image" might ring a bell.
- I've seen many videos demonstrating head-tracking technology (mostly Wii-based), but if you really want to do some amazing head-tracking, use a chicken.
- Pixel cookies! Now I have an excuse to go buy a Play-Doh Fun Factory!
- Time for some comedy from my misspent youth. If anyone remembers "Almost Live," then you probably remember their great send-up of Bruce Lee martial arts films, "Mind Your Manners With Billy Quan." From said series, we present Enter the Bowler, Library of Death, Fumes of Fury, and 8-Ball of Fury.
- All you need for a good design company is the name, pretty much. If you can't think of one that sounds like it was picked by a bunch of young post-grads sitting around a table at Starbucks, here's a handy naming gadget to help.
- The Sci-Fi channel and Saatchi & Saatchi gives us one of the best movie-poster campaigns I've seen in some time.
- Physics just goes with shooting pool... or there'd be something wrong with the universe. So here's Powerpool 2. Click on the cueball, and drag for aim and power. There are several non-traditional tables and powerups to play with as well.
- And it's Totem Destroyer 2. "Detonate" blocks to get the golden idols safely to their final platform without letting them touch the ground.